Disclaimer; Don't own it, DUH!

Note that I have edited this work to past tense and added a bit. This should answer a few questions as well as raise a few, hopefully.

Also note that I do know everything that happens from Season 1 ep 1 to Season 7 and whatever the last Ep number that was. I have only missed one episode and that was in Season 7, so therefore of no real relation to this fic.

I already have this planned out, so let's see if anyone can guess my idea here.

Thank you to the person whose review I received, my first for this story, which motivated me to edit a bit. I hope this is a little better.

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A young girl walked down Sunnydale's streets, sighing heavily at whatever was on her mind. She cuffed a rock on the ground with the toe of her boot, watching as it plopped into a nearby puddle.

She had short, spiky flame hair and bright, liquid silver eyes with soft jade pupils. Her black, curve-hugging t-shirt was tucked into the waistband of her black leather pants and her boots were rather flat bottomed with only enough distinction on the bottom for grip, much like equestrian boots. She wore bracers on her wrists and forearms, a medallion with Celtic knots engraved settled into small slots on the wrist of each, and a metal bead necklace hung about her neck loosely.

"Hey pet, in for some fun?" Spike asked as he walked up to her from a side alley.

"No." She whimpered and kept walking, her head down. Spike growled and attacked her, knocking her to the ground roughly. Gravel and glass from a car wreck last week bit into her palms and cheek as she was pressed into the road.

"HELP!" She screamed in shock and tried to through him off, with minimal success.

"GET OFF OF HER!" Giles screamed as he suddenly came at Spike with a stake in one hand, a cross in the other. At first the bleached vampire resisted, getting to his feet and trying for a blow to the gut of the other Englishman. It was blocked and returned with the force of a jackhammer in a sharp right hook to his face. Spike hissed at him and took of into the night, yelling back several expletives of varying colour as he cradled his injured jaw.

"Hey, are you okay Miss?" Giles asked, kneeling down next to her as he stowed the cross and stake back in his jacket.

"J-just weak and a little scared. W-what was that? He wasn't human." She whispered softly, raising herself to a sitting position and wrapping her arms around her knees.

"Come on, I'll take you home. Where do you live?" Giles asked softly, scooping her up in his arms and starting towards his car.

"I don't live around here, I ran away." She said, clinging onto his neck as tight as she could.

"Do you want me to call your parents to come get you?" He inquired, placing her in the passenger seat and closing the door so he could get in the driver seat.

"No, I- I can't go back. Please don't?" She whimpered, pleading him with her voice and eyes.

"Alright. Any place in particular you want me to drop you off? A friend's perhaps?" He asked, patting her on the shoulder softly as he started the car and drove down the road.

"Um, the outskirts of town maybe. I was on my way to L.A." She said, growing calmer by the minute.

"Do you have family there? Someone I could leave you with so I'll know you'll be okay?" Giles asked worriedly, stealing a few side-glances at her from time to time.

"No, I'll be okay on my own now. That kind of killed my little grief period." She said, giving a soft smile.

"Grief?" Giles asked, hoping to get her to talk about it.

"There's this secret war thing going on that my father wants me to join, he told me about it when I was ten, but he wants me to join the same group that was the cause of my mother's death just a week ago. I was supposed to start my training yesterday but that's when I ran away." She explained in a mere whisper, just barely loud enough for him to hear.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"It's Brit, for now." She said after a little deliberation.

"An alias?" He asked, chuckling.

"Well, I certainly don't know you. Not really." Brit responded, giving a shy smile.

"I suppose that's true. You can call me Ripper then." Giles said, removing one hand from the steering wheel to shake her hand. She clasped his firmly, gave one strong shake, and then released to stare out of the window at the passing houses.

"Where are we going?" Brit asked once she realized that they weren't headed towards the edge of town.

"My apartment. A pretty young girl such as yourself, who I'm guessing is about 21, shouldn't be out on these streets late at night all alone. You can stay with me for tonight, then we'll find somewhere for you to go after I get home from work. Sound good?" Giles asked.

"I'm not that kind of girl." Brit said furiously.

"What?" Giles asked, casting her a funny look out of the corner of his eye.

"Just because you helped me out doesn't mean I'm going to thank you like that." She said, reaching for the door handle.

"Hold it!" Giles said, slamming the car door shut again as he swerved to miss a parked car. "I'm not talking about anything like that! I'm referring to the fact that you can take the bed and I'll sleep on the couch downstairs. I may be 44 but I'm not that desperate." Giles said, the adrenaline in his blood returning to normal.

"Oh, sorry but that's what I thought you were talking about. You keep calling me pretty and stuff." Brit said in a small voice.

"Well I am a man, and I can see that you're pretty, but that doesn't necessarily mean I want to take you like that." Giles said, chuckling again.

"Like that?" Brit echoed, arching an eyebrow at him while smirking just a little.

"Well, as I said, I am a man." He laughed and pulled up next to the curb, cutting the car off and hopping out to open the door for her.

"Well actually, I'd have to say a gentleman, not just a man." Brit said, giggling in spite of herself.

"Well, I was raised properly." Giles said, placing a hand on her elbow as she started to trip on the curb.

"Thanks, I really don't know what's up with me. Normally, I can fight pretty well and all of a sudden I can barely stand on my feet. I'm sorry to put you through all of this." She said apologetically as she followed him to the door.

"It's okay, really. You're not the first to get attacked by a ... never mind." Giles said trailing off momentarily until he noticed his door is open. Brit noticed it too and took a step forward, pushing him behind her to gently prod it open with her foot. The lights were on, but broken glass was everywhere and there was also some blood.

"Buffy!" Giles gasped as he heard a small whimper from the top of the stairs and darted up them rapidly, crouching down beside the slayer's prone form once there.

"LOOK OUT!" Brit shouted and jumped over his head to attack a demon, which had been standing there in the shadows, waiting for more prey. The battle-axe it carried was swung to the right and she deflected it with the bracer on that side.

"Down!" She shouted sharply and pummeled it several times with her fists, knocking it unconscious fairly quickly.

"Giles." Buffy groaned and clutched at his shirt tightly.

"Hold on, girl. Got you all taken care of." Brit said, kneeling beside her hastily. She removed the medallions from her bracers and placed one over Buffy's heart, the other on her forehead. They resonated for a few short seconds and then Brit removed them, placing them back in the bracers securely.

"All better." Brit said, grabbing Buffy's left hand to haul her to her feet and help her to the bed. "Give it about a day and you'll be fine. You just need to regain some strength." She instructed and Giles helped Buffy lie down on the bed groggily.

"Giles? Who is she?" Buffy asked, still clutching at his jacket lapels.

"She calls herself Brit. Come on Buffy, you need to rest." Giles said, gently disengaging her hands and laying her back on the bed.

"Night Giles." She murmured and went to sleep, snuggled into his pillows and comforters warmly.

"So, what did I just fight and what attacked me since you seem to know already?" Brit asked in a soft whisper, motioning that Giles should probably come downstairs to help her drag the body out.

"It's a demon, what type I'm not sure at the moment, but I do know you were attacked by a vampire. Are you believing any of this?" Giles asked, lifting the shoulders while Brit grabbed the legs and worked her way down the steps.

"Every word. So you know about the war?" She asked, looking behind her occasionally to see the steps.

"Yes, what group did your father want you to join?" Giles responded, turning to open the door so they could walk out.

"The Watcher's Council of the Slayer, but I really want to join the Trancer's Council." Brit replied, heaving the demon over a short wall and into a ditch, Giles letting go just in time so that he wasn't thrown over as well.

"What's the Trancer's Council?" He asked in confusion.

"Damn you, Ethan Rayne." She said loudly, turning her face to the sky and glaring harshly.

"Who's Ethan Rayne?" Giles asked, following her gaze curiously.

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